GABON, JENNIE VER M.
PROF. SAMU RAMOS
4CA4
A Reaction Paper on:
NOLI AT FILI DEKADA DOS MIL
In the context of Public Relation
In the context of Filipino history, one of the most renowned novels ever published in our country is
the “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo” sequel. It is a controversial tale about the Spanish regime
and how Filipinos struggled to fight for freedom. Being a popular classic novel originating in our own
culture, there has already been several theater productions written and staged to bring these historically
significant novels to life. In the version of playwright Nicanor Tiongson’s “Noli at Fili Dekada Dos Mil”, the
characters and plotlines of both Noli and Fili are intervened into a modern tale of Filipino political affairs set
in the aftermath of a deadline flood and landslide incident in the Southern Tagalog region.
Ibarra Marasigan played by Lucho Ayala, upon his election as mayor of Maypajo, wanted to immediately
ban the abusive logging system in the Sierra Madre Mountains. This act disheveled the heads of the
community who had long earned money from the logging industry. The list included Bishop
Damaso Villarreal, Colonel Salvador Salvatierra and the Governor himself, Don Santiago Santos - who was
then, the recognized father of Ibarra's fiancée, Clarissa). When the twisted Salvi blackmails Clarissa into
marrying him, this sends the idealism of Ibarra into such a tailspin that pushed him to join the rebels in the
mountains as Ka Simon in order to plot his revenge against the men who wronged him.
In this modern day adaptation of El Fili and Noli, It still flashed its Values of patriotism, on how the main
character embroidered hope and continuesly exerts effort to change the absurdities and helpless conditions
of Filipinos. It is well defined in the twenty-first century’s ever increasing oil crisis, rice and other basic
commodities. Applying the quote of their production; “The slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow.”
The show’s central philosophical values rotate on the thought that; change should ignite first from within
oneself or society’s malignancy will most definitely broaden all over like a virus. Thus, change is a wake-up
call for all of us regardless of social status and faith.
In relation to Public Relation, We, as students of The Faculty of Arts and Letters, envision the values being
inflicted in us by the AB community here within the plot of the production. We are motivated by the strength
of the protagonist to fight for goodness which symbolizes the Christian faith of an Artlet.
The Thomasian ideals and the highest standards of excellence, shines within the characteristic of
Ibarra in pursuing his goals to defeat the evil deeds of his enemies. Yet, no matter how chaotic the plot may
seem, in the end, it is the love that prevails in the story. The love is the core reason why each struggles to
fight. Their value of love to live the glory and honor that they have as individuals.
If I were to make a quick summary of the story, It was a brilliant execution of the quietly an unsullied version
of Rizal’s social and political realist novels, but in the most contemporary way. Our nation’s social cancer
and reign of greed has been the heart of the play that becomes a virtuous attack to let us beg for answers
to questions that continually pester the progress of our country. Like what the original novels denote from
Dr. Jose Rizal’s writing, it conveys a deeper message towards all Filipino individual to strive for self
realization for society’s benefit.
Going to the context of Public Relation Parameters, defining it first; it is a numerical or other measurable
factor forming one of a set that defines a system or sets the conditions of its operation. Thus, these are the
different aspect that makes up the concept of Public Relation. In this review, I choose to tackle two
applicable fundamentals in PR that have been tackled in class. We have the Public Relations: Essentials
for Issues, Incidents and Crises and Using the right communications channels and tactics.
Within the plot of the production, proper communication was seen to be as an important factor to determine
whether or not a conflict would arise. Just like how it is stated in one of our lessons in PR class, Public
Relations: Essentials for Issues, Incidents and Crises
“Some organizations call in the communications team when the issue is about to break or when the crisis
has taken place. The definition of public relations talks about a planned and consistent approach and
this is just what issues and crisis management is all about—whatever it is– goes live. No organization can
afford to ignore this planning. You need to think ahead so you can think on your feet. The reputation which
you have worked so hard to build and nurture should be protected in the event of the unexpected”
I would like to point out that from this point on, the analysis that I would be discussing would be
outside the story context of Noli and El Fili. Meaning I would be disregarding the original plot from the novel
and focus on how it would be a normal situation in our place and we will try to find a solution to the conflict
which was shown in the story.
There may have been effective strategies that would have helped the protagonist prevent his rocky
relationship with the antagonists. Ibarra’s party in the story may have prevented long term damage in their
relationship with the party of Salvi if he would have carefully planned and studied the possible arising of
conflict between them. Knowing that not all were pleased from his plan from the start, a good talk with
Clarissa, explaining his side would have been a good way of saving the relationship. And a good and well
planned talk that would benefit both parties would have work to minimize the damages.
As quoted again in our PR lesson; “Taking into account that corporate ethics and responsibility are hit
topics and very widely discussed and we can see that, unless it gets things right, there’s trouble for the
organizations who behave badly…or is perceived to have done so. The spotlight is on organizations,
whatever the sector, whatever the business when the hard stuff happens. The organization that finds itself
in difficulties, commits real or perceived misdemeanours or causes harm to human life, animal life, the
environment is certain to find itself making headlines”
Arising from the miscommunication of the 2 party, it was already given that one of them will be suffering the
defaming part of the image. What attitude they showed would greatly affect the situation and Ibarra in this
case became the negative image for the paparazzi which resulted from the primary reason of “not
communicating and planning effectively with people around him.
Crisis Management is a possible and may be the most applicable action after Ibarra had been blamed to be
the bad side of the group of leaders in Sierra Madre. In crisis management as defined in the lesson;
“You need to get a basic statement together immediately which covers facts and may also include key
messages. This should be available. You will need to update the statement frequently as more information
becomes available. The first time a statement goes out it is likely to be very short, containing basic facts
only. This should be updated aster the crisis management team meet to decide strategy.”
It may have been an effective tool for Ibbara to reach to those who have turned against him. Planning the
statement carefully first and having a statement relating to his side of the conflict may have helped him
somehow reach others minds. This is an action which was obviously not exercised within the story.
However if executed and planned well, it would have been a good help for the point of Ibarra to get through
the people especially to Clarissa, proving his innocence.
Connecting these facts in the circumstance of PR’s parameters; “Using the right communications
channels and tactics”, After planning a specific action, They may clear out on te target audiences,
the messages and the strategy.
A proper planning of the channel to be used in Sierra Madre may have been seen in the story in the form of
the plans of both Ibarra and Salvi’s group.
A channel is the medium you use to send and receive messages, while the tactics-which can be seen in
Salvi and Ibarra’s group action- are the practical outputs you then create which are delivered via the
channel.
Although there have been a medium selected and tactics carried out by their team, not everything was
carefully planned. If we connect the concepts of the chosen PR Parameters, we can see that the
characters, which have carried out some of the concepts, however may not have completed and executed
all appropriately. This leads to a fall in plan. In Public Relation, it is important to connect each ideas
together and plan things in sequent and implement it cautiously. Throughout the story, there may have
been times where a proper execution of PR would have resulted in a totally different situation. One
example is when Ibarra lost the trust of Clarissa after Salvi poisoned her mind in believing that Ibarra is a
fake protector of the nature in Sierra Madre. If only Ibarra would have planned carefully his actions in
carrying out the plan to implement the protection of the trees, he would’ve seen the dark plans of his rivals
in putting his name down. We can say that PR was seen in the story, especially because it was a political
themed plot. However, the use of it in some scenes was not suitable. That is one lesson in proper
application of Public Relation, use it in the most effective way.
As a summary of the point being taken in the above argument; Public Relation is an effective tool
of communication which could be of great help to reduce miscommunication. Some of PR’s parameters in
life are application in Crisis Management, Planning and Proper execution. In addition is the Use of the right
communications channels and tactics. These are some of the main points of PR and if possibly applied in
the story of Noli and El Fili play in a more effective way, It may have helped the main character, Ibarra
Marasigan, in saving his relationship as well as image as the new mayor of Sierra Madre. As a head official
of a province, it is important to use effective communication and planning very well. It is for the people to
realize that PR has different parameters that we may and may not break. It all depends on the situation and
how we plan the things that could possibly prevent any further damages. Proper communication planned is
a strong weapon for crisis that may arise such as from the conflict of the play.
If we would analyze carefully the importance of PR within the plot was well shown. Such conflicts may arise
if we take for granted the importance of a well planned public communication. Thus, we can say that in this
Theater production, it highly impacts on how we communication students should utilize the different tools
for comm. Such as Public Relations